According to a poll by Americans for Prosperity North Carolina, 50% oppose and only 37% support for increasing Guilford County’s sales tax. Counties have the option to vote for a quarter-cent increase to their already 2% local sales tax rate. This November is the fourth time Guilford County will have this tax increase on the ballot, failing the prior three attempts.The previous votes were once 2010 and twice in 2008.
The county is focusing solely on schools as the selling point for this sales tax referendum, although there is no way to earmark the additional revenue for any specific purpose. An estimated $14 million would be generated from the tax and it has been said the additional funds will go toward funding classroom teachers, making repairs and maintaining facilities, buying more supplies and textbooks, increasing teacher compensation and incentives, and improving school security. The county already spends 48 percent of its nearly $568 million budget on education. Read this for a more in depth look at the Guilford debate.
Here are the specifics from the poll:
Pulse Opinion Research Poll on Guilford County’s Sales Tax Referendu
Question: On Election Day, do you intend to vote FOR or AGAINST a Guilford County referendum that will increase the local sales tax at the rate of one-quarter percent in addition to all other State and local sales taxes
Total37% For
50% Against
13% Not Sure
The survey of 500 likely voters in Guilford County, North Carolina was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research on October 22-23, 2014. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 4.5% percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
